Justin Stutler counted the number of missing urns he spotted when visiting a grave at a Sanford cemetery.

“It makes me nauseous (that) somebody would defile the dead like that,” Stutler said. “They can at least have some kind of respect for the, you know, for the dead."

In the past month, metal plaques and vases have vanished in large numbers from cemeteries in both Volusia and Seminole counties.

Officers have made one arrest and recovered dozens of stolen urns, but it's still an ongoing problem.

"It's a problem that grows with the value of bronze or copper. When the market goes up so does theft,” Paul Elvig, a past president of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, said at a recent expo.

"They stole mom's vase and you know for the first time I got a taste of what the consumer has felt. I was mad as hell," Elvig said.

Leaders in the cemetery industry believe there are two possible solutions. First, more cemeteries must put up gates that close at night, like Orlando's Greenwood cemetery, and increase security.

For many cemeteries, though, finances prohibit these steps.

"It's not that difficult to see that this is a memorial and this is somebody's headstone, memorial, gravestone, whatever you want to call it. Why are you recycling that? It should draw a red flag and that's what we're looking for the recycling centers to do," Stutler said.

So what can you do to protect the grave of your loved one? At the expo, vendors showcased theft-deterrent vases.

“It’s plastic. It's of little to no value at all," Shawn Cravens of Granger Plastics said.

Another suggestion is to make sure your loved one's memorial is covered by your home owner's policy.

Meanwhile, the public can help by reporting anyone who looks out of place in a cemetery. The goal is to let thieves know: it's not worth the effort to try and steal from the dearly departed.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures but not that desperate," Stutler said.

The International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association Convention and Expo was held in Tampa this year. Products ranging from embalming kits to cardboard caskets to the latest in hearses were on display. Take a look at the interesting findings.